Combined hoist and hopper



M. C. MAXWELL.

COMBINED HOIST AND HOPPERP APPLICATION FILED FEB. 17, 1921.

Patented Nov. 1, 1921.

3 SHEETSSHEET 1- gwumavtoz awe aways M. c. MAXWELL.

COMBINED HOI ST AND HOPPER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. I7. 1921.

Patented Nov. 1, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

M. C. MAXWELL.

COMBINED HOIST AND HOPPER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. I7, 1921- 1 ,3955858, Patented Nov. 1, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- STATES- MAXWELL o. MAX ELL, or STAMFORD, oovnn'o'rrcum, assrer'ron ro THE YALE &

Towns MANUFACTURING COMPANY, or srarrronn, CONNECTICUT.

dOMBINED HOIST AND HOPPER.

Specification of Letters Patent. 7 P te t d- 1 Application filed.February 17, 1921. 7 Serial no. 445,614.

Toall whom it may concern: i

Be it known that I, MAXWELL QMAXw'nnL,

a citizenof the United States, and .aresident of Stamford, in the countyof Fa rfield and State ofConnecticut, have invented certain-new anduseful Improvements in Combined Hoists and Hoppers; and I do.

hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descri tionof. the invention, such as will enable; 0t ers' skilled in the art towhich it appertains to make and useythe I i I .7 V This inventionrelates a combinedhoist and hopper designed more particularly forfeeding steelchips or other material to electric furnaces.

With the constructions now in use the feed hopper for. the furnace isnormally housed in a pit in the floor with its top edge flush with thesurface of the floor and supp orted y a p a y n er. orrr ie fi g thehopper resting in bearing plates on the floor. The steel chips or othernaterialis dumpedfrom trucksinto the hopper; and thelatter is thentransferred to the fur nace by means of an overhead trolley hoistsystem, after which the door at the lower endlof the. hopper chute isopened and the contents of thehopp er discharged into the I furnace.

Greattrouble hasbeen enperienced in dis- 7 charging the contents of thehopper into thefurnace, due-tothefact that the mass of material in thehopper becomes arched and and wedged therein, so that when the dischargedoor is opened, only the lower part of the contents passes out thusneces sitating the use of mechanical devices to break the archand neethematerial, and while such devices have been effective to a certainextent, they fail .to liberate. the .en-

tire mass so as to insure the complete dis-- charge of the contents ofthe hopper.

The object of my invention is to. provide.

means that will absolutely prevent; any arching or wedging of thecontents of the hopper thus insuring the free discharge of the entirecontents of the latter into the fur vnaee and it consists in thepartsandcombination of parts and in. thedetails-of constructiona's'wi'll be more fully explained and pointed out in the n I In theaccompanying drawings, Figure l is a v e was. le ti n-thqrin 3. e perini-r tion to disch rge its contents i t elevation of the releasingdevice for the door, and Fig. 8 is a 'VlGW similar to Fig. 1 of amodified form of trolleyhoist-for the ppa. c, P

-1 Q. represents an inverted conical hopper provided at its bottomorsmallerend with an inclined discharge chutell normally closedjat itslower end by a door 12. This door isv hingedat its upperend to the chuteso as to swing inwardly and upwardly when released, and it and theloweror free end of the chute are of a size to readily enter the feedOpening 13 in the electric or other furnace 1ft. flhe chute 11 ispreferably made in two sections, .so that the lower end orthe part 15.thereofwhichenters the feed open ng in the furnace and Which .issubjected; to intense heat, may be-rem'oved and repaired or' renewed andanother substituted as its condition may necessitate.

The section 15 015 the chute preferably conforms in shape or contour tothe shape of the feed opening 18 in thefurnace and is of a size toreadily enter the saine,-its penetras tion. into said feed opening 13being limited end wall of the furnacen The door 12 isprovided adjacent;-its free end with the hook shaped latch 17, the-hook by the externalflange 16 whichengages the 18 of which passes through an opening '19 inthe chute and engaging the wall of said opening lbcks the deer in itsclosed position. i

2O isthe latch unlocking. lever pivoted tothe outer side of thex'chutell and provided at its lower end with a bent end 21 whichis adaptedWhenlever 20 is actuated, to engage the hook shaped end 18 of the latchand force the same. inwardly thus releasing the door and permitting. thecontents of the hopper and chute to gravitate into the furnacej i a Thehopper, like thosein use, is normally housed :in a pit'in the floor withits top edge flush with the surfacegof the floor. and "sup ported. by. aplurality of fingers" 22" secured to the hopper and {resting on bearingplates located inthe: floor. Y

The hopper10,,is,connectedby hooks23 hains-ge with-the drum p groovedpulleys on shaft 26 which is supported fromthe twin trolleys 27 adaptedto travel on the lower flange of the track rail 28. Shaft 26 is rotatedto elevate and lower the hopper by the shaft 29andgears 30, the shaft 29being rotated by the actuating chain 34 passing around a grooved pulleyon the end thereof in'the usual and well known manner.

The principal feature of my invention consists of the hollow truncatedcone 31.sus pended from the hoist chain 32 carried by an auxiliary hoist33 which is actuated to raise and lower the cone by the operating chain34. 'The part 31 is in the form ofa truncated cone open at'both ends andprovided at its upper and smaller end, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, withthe oppositely disposed supporting bars 3lt-which rest within thepockets 35 in the upper edge of the hopper so that when the parts areassembled the cone will be supported by the hopper.

As shown in Fig. 1, the larger, lower end of the cone is approximatelythe, diameter of the hopper at the juncture of thelatter with the chute,so that the metal chipsor other .material in the hopper, and at theouter side of the cone cannot pass into the chute 11 until the coneshall have been raised, whereas the metal chips or'other material withinthe truncated cone are free to How out into the chute and into thefurnace 14: when the door 12 of thechute is opened for the discharge orthe contents. There is no tendency-of the chips or other material toarchor become wedged inthe chute, or within the cone,hence upon openingthe door 12 by the actuation of the lever 20 as described, the contentsof the chute and the conewill gravitate into the furnace. In filling thehopper the chips or material not only fill the'cone but also" the spacewithin the hopper at the outer side of the cone, .hence if after thematerial within the chute and cone have been discharged, or

" whileit is being discharged, the cone be lifted by'the auxiliary hoist33 and its chain 32, the metal chips or other material within the hopperat the outer side of'the cone will fall-into the'chute and be dischargedinto the furnace.

By the use of a-hollowconewithin the hopper any archingof the contentsof the hopper'will be avoided, and the contents vof for recharging.

the outer side of the cone will be brolzenup and pass out into thefurnace. -After the '1 contents of the hopper have been discharged '7the cone is lowered and'the hopper raised or moved to; disengage 1t fromthe furnace and is then moved and lowered lnto its pit The constructionshown in Fig. 8 is identical' with that shown in Fig. 1 except that theauxiliary hoist for the cone carried by a band 36, mounted'on a sleeve37 which hoists, the said sleeve 37 beingfsuspended from the latter. 2

It is evident that many'slight changes might be resorted to in therelative 5&1.- rangem'ent of parts shown and described without departingfrom the spirit and scope of my inventionhence I would have itunderstood that I do not wish to confinemyself totheexact'constructionan'd, arrangement of parts shown and described but,

Having ,fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire. tosecure by Letters-Patent, is

1. The combination of a hopper and hoist mechanism for the same, ahollow truncatedcone open at'bothends and adapted to restwithin'thejhopper and hoist means for lifting the cone independently ofthe hopper. 2.- The combination of a hopper and hoist mechanism for thesame,,a hollow truncated cone supportedby"; and within" the hopper, andhoist means forllifting the cone independently of thehopper. I p

3. The combination of a" hopper. of greater diameter at the top than thebottom,

houses'the operating shaft 26 of the twin hoistjmechanism for thehopper, a hollow truncated cone the larger'and lower end of which isapproximately the size of the smaller end of the hopper and means forlifting the cone independently of the hopper.

' 4. The combination of a hopper of greater diameter at the top than thebottom," hoist mechanismfor "the upper, a hollow truncated cone thelower end of which approximates the size of the lower and smaller end ofthe hopper to form achoke for the same, the saidcone being supported byand within 5 the hopper and hoist mechanism for'lifting the coneindependently of the hopper.

5. The combination'ofan inverted conical shaped hopper, hoist means for.the same, a

hollow truncated cone supported by 1 and] w'ithinssaid hopper, a chuteforming a continu'ation of, the. hopper, a door for closingthe lower endof the chute anda latch oper able from the outside. of thechute for'-releasing the-doorg f" I 5 f6.-j The combination of .anffinvertedconical hopper provided at its upper edgewitlrrpro jections forsupporting the samein a posi tion to be filled, hoist meansfor'elevating and lowering'the hopper, a chuteforming a continuation ofthe-latter, a door closing ing the door in its closed position, a leveroperable from the outer side of the chute o for disconnecting the latchand releasing the door, a hollow truncated cone within and adapted to besupported by the hopper,

and hoist means for lifting and lowering the cone independently of thehopper.

8.- The combination of an inverted conical hopper, hoist means for thesame, a hollow truncated cone provided adj acent its upper end withprojections adapted to engage the upper edge of the hopper and besupported by the latter and means for elevating and lowering the 'coneindependently of the hopper.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presenceof two subscribing witnesses;

v MAXWELL G. MAXWELL.

' Witnesses:

MARGARET SARSFIELD, A. O. BLACKMAN.

